(no subject)

[camwyn]

I just had to give the "Microsoft Normal" speech. It's been years since we ran into a product with a learning curve bad enough to require that. The "Microsoft Normal" speech is:

"Understand that the people at Microsoft think that they've designed something intuitive, simple, and normal. And understand that at Microsoft, it's considered normal to work more than eighty hours a week and live on Mountain Dew and Skittles. The people who created this product have completely forgotten what the rest of the world is dealing with when they sit down and look at their computer. That is why you can't find anything, or do anything that you used to be able to do. They think this is normal."

(Office 2007, if I could get away with replacing you with Open Office, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But my users would burst into flames even faster.)

Comments

[skyschemer.livejournal.com]

Of course, the assumption behind this quote is that the old Office interface was intuitive and good, while the new one is not. What it's actually saying is that the new one is very different, and a PITA for people who have memorized the old one. I won't argue either point because I don't want to make a flame war in your journal, but it is important to see the distinction.

Note that I also think it's a valid complaint from long-time users of a product when the interface radically changes like this and you're essentially forced into an upgrade with no backwards-compatibility mode. :(

[camwyn]

Oh, no. I'm not claiming the old interface was intuitive and good either, exactly- but I had to give the Microsoft Normal speech back when we converted from 97 to 2000, and then to 2003, and when people converted from Outlook Express to Outlook proper (that took forever, good Lord)... Every single time, every time, the folks at MS think what they've created is intuitive, good, and normal. And I don't know that it ever actually is.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

If you got to OO, you only go through the nightmare ONE MORE TIME. Then it's over, forever. No more "We've made office more easy-to-use (for martians)! Faster (on gaming rigs)! More features (that break every .doc-reading system that isn't part of Office (and some that are), everywhere)!"

[camwyn]

The reason we had to switch to Office 2007 is because we regularly get files from the giants of the financial services industry in whatever formats they use, from whatever programs they use- and the giants insist on using Office, and they upgraded a while ago. We've had too many 'oops, where did the formatting go?' issues when somebody along the way used a compatibility pack instead of having an upgrade.

[skyschemer.livejournal.com]

I'm right with you on that one. And I've delayed the 2007 upgrade at work frankly because I'm a little scared of it. Or rather, scared that it will take me too long to relearn it, and I'll find myself turning out crappy documents because it's just easier than figuring it out. :/

[crisavec.livejournal.com]

I think it would help alot if MS would stop hunting up the half dozen people left on the planet that HAVEN'T used office for their Usability labs, and made them work on something with a 17" screen instead of a 24" or larger monitor.

[kyrielle]

I have thus far dodged upgrading to Office 2007. I have seen it on other people's systems, and it gives me horrors. I don't know if it's better or worse than what came before, but I know that it is so wildly different that it might as well be a completely new program. Which is really, really not cool. I don't even want to have to learn it. :P

[adiva_calandia]

Oh god Office 2007, and its "This format can actually ONLY BE READ on Office 2007! What do you mean, you want to open it on a Mac with the old version of Word? HAHAHA GOOD LUCK." *BURNING HATE*

Yes, you can get around it by Save As-ing, but. Just. Nnngh. I'm almost glad my trial version ran out and no longer lets me use it. That's a hassle, too, but at least I no longer have to worry about whether I'll be able to open my documents anywhere else.

Although I do still have to deal with Windows Vista. *sigh*

[camwyn]

I told several people today that "Windows Vista is God's way of saying Baby Jesus doesn't love you any more."

[adiva_calandia]

Yeah. Yeah, pretty much.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Office 2007. Hate. I could forgive (eventually) all the rearrangements of options. I could possibly forgive the fact that only XML programmers can make new ribbons or remove things from the ribbon. What I can't forgive is that Word 2007 refuses to be compatible with EndNote 9. (It's supposed to be compatible. It just isn't.) EndNote 9 is where I keep all 305 entries in my dissertation bibliography database. I need it like I need food. Why do you reject my EndNote 9, Word 2007?

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

*shrieks with laughter at work*

*claps hand over mouth, shuts up*

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

I am almost jealous of you... At work, they still run Word and Excel 97. Which means that the spreadsheets my boss sends me from her laptop don't format properly and whine every time I try to save them. *stabbity*